Live Republican Debate

Live Republican Debate, And so ends. In economics, the leading candidates – Mitt Romney and Rick Perry – promoted their own job records and attacked each other. After all, Romney was a message more focused on the future global competitiveness of the country, which makes sense given his experience with big finance.

This should resonate with Southern California, given the region’s exposure to international trade. Perry stood firm in the Social Security and its insistence that it is a Ponzi scheme (which is not). This was a risky decision, but should please his base. However, it also created a diversion of an issue for many Americans is unemployment. “A monstrous lie to our children,” Perry called, whereas if I really wanted to do was talk of reforms to entitlement spending, could have prevented this radical argument (although he has been recording it for a while ).

The other candidates struggled a bit to distinguish their positions in the economy, beyond pointing to the playbook of the Republican Party and the legacy of Reagan – or in the case of Ron Paul, go after the government regulation. I’ll take a closer look at Perry’s argument Ponzi scheme in a post up, and I’ll take a crack at unpacking concern of GOP candidates “to eliminate Obamacare.

And for what it’s worth, John Huntsman was the most Reaganite. Smooth and balanced. Suggests that the Republican Party has clearly moved toward the political right and is struggling to figure out how far to go in the economy.

Thanks for joining us on the experience of living-econoblogging!

Updated at 18:46 | Permalink

Some points to keep going. Gingrich dismiss Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman, if he became president. And then at the last moment, Romney also said that Bernanke ditch, but defends the middle class and its urgent need for zero taxes on capital appreciation. No track of whether this policy applies to high-income Americans as well. In fact, there is some sanity in this, but it is unlikely that Republicans would exempt middle-class top-profits while keeping the tax – 15 percent – rather than the rich. Bernanke on the subject: Both Newt and Mitt raise the possibility of inflation, which should be fodder for deflation, arguing that there has been significant inflation in the economy and the Federal Reserve has invested in money.

Oh, wait! Not-a-brief-ray round appreciation and exploration of the debt offering roof. Rick Perry is going after past and says it has to be under control. Romney goes back to the global competitiveness of tone, a central point of difference – it is believed – between him and Perry. And then Perry wipes out a little something for the public economy: Keynesianism No more!